


Siren

by soulioli



Series: Shuann Week 2019! [7]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: (sorta) - Freeform, Angst, Day 4: Ocean, F/M, Moral Dilemmas, ShuAnn Week 2019, ShuAnn Week 2k19, no powers au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-09 14:29:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19477816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soulioli/pseuds/soulioli
Summary: A newly divorced Akira is sent on a cruise by his concerned friends. What he finds there changes him forever.





	Siren

The local restaurants were always busy at this time of night, Akira noted. It was almost an unspoken rule that couples went out on this night in particular, something that made the man frown and turn from the window.

Luckily, Ryuji, Makoto, and Futaba wanted to meet up at a bar. He sighed, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket and wondering if he should just bail. 

_ Probably just another lecture about how I should be over Ayane already…. _

His lips twisted into a downward position, and the roll of his shoulders was nervous. Yeah, he knew he should be over it and should be out and about. It’d been months, but...

But how were you supposed to come back from divorcing your highschool sweetheart? 

They just didn’t understand. Not really. They could say they understood all they wanted, but the fact of the matter is that Ryuji and Makoto were still happily married, and he was not. So how could  _ they _ know how to handle this?

With a heavy sigh, the man pushed his balled hands further into his pockets. He really didn’t need to hear it tonight, but who was he to deny a request from his friends? 

* * *

The bar they'd agreed to meet at wasn't as ritzy as Makoto usually went for, but it wasn’t a bother to her husband or their orange haired college friend, so she supposed she didn't mind. 

Futaba casually ate pretzels from the bar, cradling her beer. The woman frowned. “Don't you have classes tomorrow?” 

“Professor cancelled.” She answered, taking another gulp of the drink in her hand. “Don't worry, I've got papers and labs to do tomorrow anyway ….why am I becoming a scientist again?” 

“Because you want to continue studying science? Though I don't know why you're going for such an understanding of your field.” Makoto replied, stirring her own drink. She was their designated driver, so she'd asked for their least alcoholic drink. There was no harm in just having a little in her system, and with the upcoming conversation….she felt like she'd need the buzz. 

“Well, you know, oh!” She'd finally looked in the direction of the door, where Akira lingered, and immediately she was yelling. “HEY! AKIRAAAAA! OVER HERE!”

He looked for the source of the sound, though it probably wasn't hard to find with how Futaba was waving her hands around.

The older woman watched her friend make his way through the crowd. Looking at him, Akira seemed to be completely at ease. But it to the woman who’d spent far too much time studying him in high school, it was clear he was anything but. Akira had always been considerate of their feelings, and that was something she valued, but ….perhaps he’d been a bit  _ too _ considerate. 

His shoulders were tense. There were bags under his eyes that were concealed under some makeup that was probably still from their high school days. The lines of his face suggested a blooming resentment towards them, towards everyone. Towards the woman he’d once loved. And above all, he just looked worn and beaten. 

Her heart went out to him, and it was then that she noticed her ring hand was resting on the bar and her other had come over top of it, concealing the band and holding on tightly, as if she’d lose Ryuji, too, by just being around Akira. 

He painted on a smile as he noticed the small unintentional action, and now more than ever, she hoped Ryuji and Futaba’s idea worked. Would he really agree? Would he just think that they were coddling him? She didn’t know. 

Ryuji had placed a hand on her knee for a moment, unintentionally grounding her. That hand was quick to leave when Akira came over, and they left the bar in search of a table. 

Finding a table wasn’t hard. Getting up the nerve to actually start this conversation, though ….that was. If only she’d had a friend to get her through this, maybe it would be easier. Something tugged at her heart at the mention of a kinder friend, but she wasn’t entirely sure what. 

Hmm. She’d figure it out later. Now, though, it was time. As soon as she was going to speak, Futaba beat her to the punch. 

“So,” she drawled, not even bothering to fix her bangs as they spilled onto the table. They’d been left down, but the rest of her hair occupied the bun that was signature to her. “How you doing?” 

“Fine.” Akira answered plainly, eyes fixed on the table. 

“Fine? No ‘Mona’s bitchin at me’ or anythin’?” Ryuji prodded, eyebrows raised. 

Akira sighed. “No. Look, I love you guys, but can we skip the wellfare check? I’m fine. I promise.” 

The trio shared a look, leaving Akira out of their mental conversation. He sighed again. 

“Can we not do this tonight?” 

The three broke eye contact, feeling somewhat guilty even though they had nothing to feel guilty about. Makoto simply gave another sigh, knowing this wouldn’t be a night that they’d have the time to sit and chat. 

Well….they had the time, but the other side of the coin didn’t have the patience. She dug an envelope out of her bag and slid it to him, almost feeling as if she were losing him for good through doing this. 

“It’s for you.” She said softly, watching him open it. “There are vacation tickets inside. It’s a cruise that will last you about a week. We thought it might be good for you get away.” 

He seemed taken aback, and his features flooded with guilt. “Oh, I….” The recently divorced man couldn’t make the words come from his mouth. 

“S’okay. You’ve been really on edge lately, so it’s not like this was gonna be entirely good or somethin’,” Ryuji commented, shrugging. 

“Still, I haven’t been treating you fairly and you really shouldn’t have….” 

Makoto waved a hand in the air. “It’s nothing. You’ll be on the ship this time next week. The room we got for you is very nice. And you can thank Futaba for the idea, too.” 

Ryuji nodded. “Yeah, man, it had this cool balcony that’s like as low as you can go, and it really lets you see the sea n’ shit. Plus the room is pretty big.” 

“Well, thank you. I’m sure it will help a lot.” Akira said, giving a somewhat pained, but genuine smile. 

“Hey, how about I order us a round of drinks, eh? That’s the first time Akira’s smiled in forever!” The only blonde at the table suggested, prompting a cheer of agreement from Futaba.

“Well, I don’t know if I should be drinking tonight considering I’m your designated driver.” The woman said cautiously. 

“Well, come on, you can have just one drink, Makoto!” The college student cheered.

Makoto sighed through her nose. “Just one.” 

Her husband wiggled from the booth, going to the bar with an order instead of flagging the waitress down, who was currently being flirted with by a rather attractive man in the corner. She had bright blonde hair, something that tugged at Makoto’s heart for a reason she couldn’t explain, either. It added to her feeling of something being wrong, and she just knew if she thought about it, she would stumble across something, but she couldn’t. 

She didn’t have long to think about it, however, as Ryuji came back with their drinks and wiggled back into the booth next to her, something that brought a hint of a genuine smile to her face. Futaba raised her glass. 

“Cheers, to vacations and new beginnings!” 

Their glasses clinked together in the middle and they all took a sip of their respective drinks, smiling at each other for the first time in weeks. 

Somehow, everything would have to be okay. 

Wouldn’t it?

\----------------------------------------------------------

One week from their meeting at the bar, Akira was staring at the ceiling of his room on board the large vessel, wondering how exactly he’d come to this point. He knew, of course, but everything just felt more and more blurry lately.

Well, it didn’t matter now. He had other things to think about, like his friends. he’d gotten lucky with the friends he’d made. They were good to him - almost too good in a way that made him wonder if he deserved it at all. 

Either way, he shouldn’t waste this vacation, right? 

He got up from his bed with a sigh, making his way to his suitcase. He’d packed all sorts of things for this trip - definitely enough to last him a week and through any situation. The room felt...emptier, somehow, as if he should have had someone in here with him. Like he should have invited someone. 

The ravenet shook his head before he could think more, rummaging around for his swim trunks and a button-up, which he could leave open. By no means was he the most ripped or the most tan, but he had a pretty good build, and he was fairly attractive. So, all things considered, the look was pretty good on him. 

With a ruffle of his hair, he stepped out of the room and started a new adventure. 

Who knew what this would bring?

* * *

Ryuji and Makoto had been right. This balcony was nice. It was a busy day on the ship, as all of his days aboard had been, but today he just needed the silence as he thought back on what had happened so far, and what would benefit him in the end. 

Days one through three consisted of him talking to people and experiencing the ship, but on the fourth, Akira was hit with the overwhelming desire for silence. That was what led him to sit on the balcony, staring at the ocean and wondering, for a moment, if life existed beneath. 

But the thought was silly, and as such, he quickly dismissed it, staring out over the ocean. 

The blue waves made nice companions for thought, and he found himself contemplating more and more as he sat there, staring out at them. 

It was so easy to get lost in his own thoughts, so easy to think about why it might have been that Ayane left, or why he and his friends seemed to grow more distant and uneasy with each passing day, like they were forgetting something. Like they were all missing something. Someone. 

A flash of red in the water caught his attention, suddenly, and he blinked rapidly. Maybe he’d just blinked and that was what he’d seen. A moment later, it happened again, prompting the man to lean forward. 

It looked just like the tail of a fish, but bigger. Almost like those silly mermaid costumes people bought from stores. But that was silly. After all, mermaids weren’t real. 

As if to prove him wrong, it was then that a head came above water, one that was definitely human. A flash of panic flickered through him, thinking that someone surely must have jumped off and needed his help. He stood up, opening his mouth to call out, when the person’s blue eyes landed on him. 

It was almost as if they were crystal balls and he was a psychic. Her eyes seemed to hold a vast, expansive knowledge that he’d never seen before. She certainly knew more than him, more than anyone he knew. Yet, as they landed on him, they carried this profound sadness and recognition, as if she knew him and knew why he was here. 

And then, as he studied her more - studied her eyes and the shape of her mouth, and her nose, and her ears, and the way that her blonde hair curled just perfectly, his breath left him. 

He recognized her, and he swore that if he squinted, he could make out fire around her, dancing on top of the water, and the faint shimmer of a mask on her face, covering most everything. The memory almost didn’t feel like his own, but he could hear a man’s voice, yelling at him, and a woman, screaming for help. 

“ _ You damn brat, I’ll sue!”  _

And then the storm descended. 

“ _ Dance, Carmen!”  _

_ “I will rob you of everything!”  _

_ “I am thou….thou art I….”  _

_ “I just believe that there are some fates worse than death.”  _

_ “So this is your girl, eh? I wouldn’t call shopping here a date, but whatever. I’ll be back with the new models.”  _

_ “You’ve been sold out.”  _

_ “Nice work,  _ Joker. _ ” _

He gasped, unable to take in enough air to process the knot of emotions he was feeling, being hit back to back with voices from people he knew, yet had never met before. 

It was as if that sense of something being incredibly wrong centered around her - this girl in the water who had just made eye contact with him. Like the earth itself was tilted off of it’s axis, and with a gentle nudge of her hand, she had snapped it back into place. 

Words caught in his throat, somewhere between asking who she was and calling out to her in concern. She moved with the ship, and it was then that he saw it again. 

That flash of red. 

This time, his eyes were wide open, and he was looking, and it was silly, but the flash still looked like a tail, one that was moving up and down, almost as if the user needed it to move that way, and it was stupid to think, but it almost looked like it was connected to her - Ann was her name, he remembered - and…. _ oh. _

Maybe it was possible that she was a mermaid. 

It was then that he finally found his voice, and, after making sure no one was around, he spoke. 

“I….I know you. Ann….?” 

The mermaid nodded wordlessly, inviting him into the ocean. He looked around again. There was no way he’d get back to the ship. This was a trap. “This ship is travelling fast. How do I know I’ll be able to get back?” 

Instead of taking to the air, the words floated in his head, bathed in the all-too sweet tone of her voice. “ _ You’ll have to trust an old friend, Akira. I’m not bloodthirsty just because I’m not human anymore.”  _

Hearing his name in the honeyed tones of her voice brought back memories, ones that filled with an inexplicable sadness. He gestured to the water below. Sure, he was close, but that “Alright, then how will this work?” 

Her shoulders rose and then fell, indicating she’d let out a sigh. “ _ Hold on.”  _

Akira rose an eyebrow, wondering what exactly she would do. He didn’t have to wait long, however, as the ocean itself began to move. It rose as if obeying her every whim, and she sat on top of it but, strangely enough, didn’t sink. The mermaid rose to eye level with him, and it was then that he got a good look at her. 

Her eyes were milkier than he remembered, which wasn’t a detail that someone noticed at a distance. Logically, he supposed that he shouldn’t have remembered anything about this creature - woman? - because it was the first time they had met. In addition, her hair was down and left in beachy waves that seemed permanent, yet right. The mermaid was definitely toned, too, as far as her upper half went. She didn’t wear the seashell bra that he’d envisioned, but instead had left a bikini top on. It was red, and had a complicated series of straps in the back and along the front, as well as a few that seemed to hug her torso. Scales adorned her body, but from the navel down, they completely replaced where her legs should have been, ending in a tail that looked exactly like the classical depiction. 

“ _ Are you done admiring me?”  _ She asked, pale lips arching upward a bit. 

Though he kept a straight face, his cheeks betrayed him, tinting pink. “No one said that that’s what I was doing.” 

She rolled her eyes, but extended a hand to the human. He took it, and was pressed against the warmth, yet cold feeling that was her body, before he was slipping down under the water. She swam after him, watching as he sank. “ _ You can breathe under here, you know.”  _

The ravenet looked at her as if she were insane, prompting a shrug. “ _ You can doubt me all you want, but you’re not going to break the surface.”  _

It was getting harder and harder to breath, and black spots were dancing along his vision. Without meaning to, he took a breath in, only to find out that he could, indeed breath. 

“How did you-?”   
  
Ann only smiled. “ _ Us mermaids have tricks of our own, too.”  _

Well, that made sense, he supposed. Realistically, it made none at all, but...he was dealing with a mermaid. 

“So, are you…?” He couldn’t find the words to convey what he meant, but the mermaid didn’t have that struggle as she finished his thought for him.

_ “The Ann that you remember?”  _

He nodded.

“ _ Well, yeah.”  _ She nodded.  _ “But I’m also...different. And I’ve been watching you guys.”  _

She was met with a quizzical look, as if he was asking who she meant by that. 

_ “You guys. Ryuji. Futaba. Makoto. You. Morgana. Haru. Yusuke. Ayane.”  _ Her smile jumped, but it was filled with pain.  _ “It’s good to know that you guys are continuing to grow and making something great out of your lives. I miss you all terribly.”  _

“Then why are you here? Why don’t I remember you?” He asked, finally bringing himself to speak. 

She looked down.  _ “Do you really wish for the truth?”  _

He nodded, prompting her to sigh.  _ “If you truly wish to know, then I’ll tell you. During your second year of high school, you were sent to Shujin for reasons you don’t know. Or because of your parents, I don’t remember which excuse was made up for you. Anyway, you think you were there and you made friends, and that was the end of it.”  _

That ...sounded just about right. He nodded, meeting her eyes as she brought them up to study his face. 

_ “What you don’t know is that you were involved with a dimension that wasn’t your own. One that you directly influenced, and one that…..well, one that saved us all. That year was glorious. Everything seemed to go right. We were romantically involved, we helped Futaba, we saved the world...but all good things end.”  _

She looked away from him. “ _ After you left to go back to your hometown, everyone started to drift apart. I couldn’t let that happen, but no matter how hard I tried ….everything wasn’t working. I felt like everyone was leaving again. And you, well ….as much as you tried to make time for me, I guess I just felt like it wasn’t enough.”  _

Her tail began to flick back and forth. “ _ Even though I didn’t like it, I,”  _ the voice in his head caught up for a second, as if she were choking. “ _ I couldn’t break away from you guys. Then you wouldn’t have any chance of still maintaining friendships. And I couldn’t harm myself, either. It just wouldn’t have been fair. But then, I went on a cruise, and just like you’re meeting me now, I met a mermaid. She told me what I’ll tell you, and I was sold. It’s why you don’t remember me - or at least you didn’t until now.”  _

“What did she tell you?” He asked, still wary of opening his mouth underwater but beginning to understand that she had control over it. The mermaid eyed him sadly, eyes almost blending with the ocean. 

_ “If you wish to give up your status as a human and become a mermaid, you’ll become immortal. But, here’s the catch. Everyone that knew you will forget you existed. Much like how you thought you’d kept up that relationship with Ayane throughout your whole high school career. You didn’t. She broke up with you after you were convicted, and then you two mended your now friendship when you came back, while you were dating me. And then after I left...the universe corrected itself.”  _

He felt dizzy. “ _ Of course, you can’t decide right now. It’s a lot, I know.”  _ She pressed a red pearl into his hand. “ _ If you decide by the end of the cruise that you want to join me, then throw this into the ocean. It’ll be a new world, but…”  _ She glanced down at their hands, which were touching now, and shook her head mournfully. “ _ Never mind.”  _

“Wait, I have so many questions -”

She cut him off. “ _ Allow yourself to remember and to heal, Akira. Make the decision that will benefit you the most in the end, no matter who it costs.”  _

Then, just like that, she was gone, and he was being propelled through the water by some force he couldn’t see. And, as if it had all been a dream, he was suddenly on his balcony again, completely dry. 

That couldn’t of been real. He had to have fallen asleep and made up this dream to make himself feel better. It had to be fake. 

He almost believed it - believed that he’d fallen asleep out here and that his imagination was the reason for his strange dream. That was, of course, until he opened his hand and stared. 

The pearl stared back at him, shining red in the sunset’s light.

* * *

For the next three days, the man stared at his cabin’s roof, playing the conversation over and over in his head as memories faded in and out. 

Some left them in awe of what he and his friends had become, left him wanting to go back and relive the days in the Metaverse with them and tell them that they were valued. Some made him frustrated. They forced him into this angry state, upset with the knowledge that he had. It left him wanting to go back and change it, even though he knew it couldn’t be changed. 

But at the center of it all was the central question. 

Could he live his life knowing what he knew now? Could he go back, knowing that he’d be leaving Ann behind and living a lie? Knowing that Makoto and Ryuji had their love story wrong, that he and Ann had watched them grow together and given them that push? 

Could he live with the true, deep knowledge of how they’d saved Futaba? Could he live with that memory of Shiho’s suicide, of Ann’s run to her side and their defeat of Kamoshida? 

Could he go back to his hometown, where she’d moved, and hear her say that it was just an accident? 

It felt wrong to think that, to even consider leaving his friends and his team behind. But they wouldn’t remember. Wasn’t that for the best? 

Was it for the best for them to continue to be blind to the truth of society? Was it fair? 

But if he went back, would they believe him, or would they blame themselves for what they thought was him going insane? 

He shut his eyes and sighed, the picture of Ann coming back into his head. 

“ _ Make the decision that will benefit you the most in the end, no matter who it costs.”  _

He’d have to heed her advice - it was never a question of if he would or not. Rather, it spawned a new question. 

Which path led him in the right direction?

* * *

Ultimately, his contemplation led him out to the balcony. 

It had been four days since he’d encountered Ann, and three since his memories started to come back. They were slow, still, and only vague memories trickled in, but they were there. The ghost impressions he’d had seemed to be making sense, and brief flashes still caught at him. 

Whispered conversations over the phone to a lover, and the other side ringing with sadness and some emotion that begged for help, but in doing so put distance. Wanting to fix and be fixed, but understanding that everyone,  _ everything _ was too far removed at that point. There was nothing they could do. 

Flashes of fire dancing in front of his eyes, of a castle and a museum, and a red glove on his hand that he certainly shouldn’t have remembered. Shouts and grunts in pain, teens making a way for themselves - screaming “we won’t lose!” to anyone who opposed them. 

A cold, dark cell that he’d been in for a while. The passing of the new year around him, while he stared at the wall, hoping to be forgiven in his head, because he couldn’t say it, and she couldn’t come see him because that would attract too much attention. 

The smell of gunpowder hanging around the room, emanating from a dimension that shouldn’t have existed. 

He looked out over the water blankly, cradling the pearl in his hand. It fit comfortably in his palm, and while it was small in comparison to him, it was sizeable for a pearl. It wasn’t something that could easily slip through his fingers, which was good. 

Akira glanced to the shoreline that represented the end of his time on the vessel, biting his lip. He had to make his choice, and he had to make it now, or he wasn’t going to make it. 

The grey-eyed man shut his eyes and turned his hand over, letting the pearl crash into the water below. 

* * *

She was fast. 

One second, the pearl had crashed into the sea, and the next, she was on top of a wave, at eye level with him. 

“ _ Do you truly want this?”  _ The mermaid asked. He relaxed at the sound of her voice, nodding to her.   
  
Almost tentatively, she extended a hand to him. Her hands were still manicured and perfect, just as he remembered them, but they had a different texture that he suspected made life easier underwater. 

Would his take on the same texture? 

_ Only one way to find out… _ He thought to himself, taking her hand in his own. 

“ _ You’re truly sure that this is what you want?”  _ She asked again, voice in his mind sounding almost out of breath. 

He smiled, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. “One hundred percent.” 

Tears sprung to the murky diamonds that were her eyes at the squeeze, and without further hesitation, she pulled him down into the water. 

He shut his eyes on instinct as she pulled him deep below the surface, relaxing as the water rushed to meet him. 

“ _ Open your eyes, Akira.”  _

He obeyed, opening his eyes to look at her. In her hand was the pearl he’d dropped into the water, which was now being extended to him. 

“ _ It’s not too late to go back. But…. if this is what you truly desire, crush the pearl I gave you.”  _

While once, he may have hesitated, he knew he had no other choice. And he couldn’t say no.

With her eyes watching him like that, so anxious and full of fear that he was going to leave, he felt like he owed her this much. 

He placed pressure on the small ball between his hands, not believing that it would work. To his surprise, it did. 

The pearl made a sound that sounded like broken glass, which seemed to echo for miles under the water, even though Akira was pretty sure that shouldn’t have been possible. 

The water around his hands tinted black, and as he looked, he noted that the black water seemed to come from the pearl, surrounding him like a cloud. 

Panic filled him as he realized he couldn’t feel his toes and legs, but nothing hurt. Something emerged from beneath the skin below his ears, and lifted his hand to feel scales. It was as if his body was changing before his eyes. There was no blood, no crunch, no splitting of skin. It was simply a feeling of tingles, other than his lower half. He inhaled deeply, almost expecting to drown, but was surprised when water came through, feeling as easy to inhale and exhale as the air had been. 

The black veil around him finally cleared, and when it did, he saw Ann, staring at him as if she’d never seen him before. In some way, that was true, she hadn’t seen him - not like this. Hell,  _ he _ hadn’t seen himself like this. 

_ “You’re just as handsome as a merman as you were a human. I’m a little jealous.”  _ She hummed, tone in his mind clearly impressed. 

He looked down. His legs and lower half had been replaced by a black, scaled tail that felt oddly natural, all things considered. It was then that he noticed that he could see perfectly, no glasses needed. And he was shirtless, but that wasn’t exactly bad. The water warmed around him slightly. 

“What can I say? I’m just that good. And plus…you’ve got me for eternity.” Akira responded quickly, voice a little warbly through the water. 

“ _ Are you sure this is what you want, though? I mean...me? Forever? And a bunch of new people? And a new life?”  _ She swam towards him, face painted with worry.

He nodded, reaching over to take her hand and squeezing it. “I don’t think I could go back, knowing what I know. And knowing that there’s so much that’s wrong with how they’re going to live back home.” 

“ _ I guess, but aren’t you sad? Maybe I shouldn’t have approached you.”  _ Her voice floated through his mind still, worried. 

“Ann. I would have lived a boring and miserable life, working a dead-end 9 to 5, with friends I was slowly beginning to resent for no other reason than my own attitude. And the feeling of something being wrong would have stuck with me forever. It’s better that you told me.” 

Ann looked down at their intertwined hands and sighed, nodding.  _ “If you say so. Are you ready to go on? I have to take you to the cities.”  _

“Cities? You have your own civilization?” 

_ “Of course. We even have our own currency and stuff. You’ll stay with me, right?”  _

“Let’s put it this way, I’m down for anything as long as it’s with you.” He said, squeezing her hand in his own once more. 

  
The blonde gave him a bright smile, and together, they swam forward into a new world, knowing that their lives would be brighter than they had ever been before. 

**Author's Note:**

> *chanting*   
> Mermaid AU, Mermaid AU, Mermaid AU!   
> I actually had a lot of fun with this, and a lot of fun with the supernatural element of it. I've always loved mermaids, and wanted to dipict Ann just a little differently. I think it turned out pretty well, though!  
> Also, as a side note, I probably won't be posting my other prompt today (it is independence day in America, after all.), so I hope you guys enjoy this one! My other prompt will come out soon-ish. Maybe. I don't really know.   
> Thank you guys for reading! Anything you can do to show support is very appreciated (reviews, kudos, bookmarks, comments, etc.) as always!


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